One More Day
by carrymybeatingheart
Summary: Set after 3x22 and before 4x01. A Klamille fic for those as heartbroken as I am. This is how I pictured Klaus spending his five years in captivity. Enjoy!


One More Day

"You're doing it again," he stated. "You ask me a simple question when you actually want me to talk until I figure out the bigger issue at hand."

His words sounded harsh but the glimmer of the crooked smile she loves so much showed that he invited her therapist tendencies.

"Or maybe," she offered kindly, "I really do want to know what you are going to do when you get out of here."

Klaus noticed the way she said "Here". Her voice broke a bit towards the end of the word.

"Here" was complicated. One moment Klaus was surrounded by freshly cemented bricks, curtesy of his newfound enemy, Marcel. The next, Klaus woke up in his bedroom. Something was off, the sun was a little too bright and he felt like he was not just daggered moments ago. He knew he was not dead yet; he was simply stabbed with dark magic. Klaus wandered around the familiar compound, a place he called home. Everything looked the same; the vines still crept up the walls and around the beams. His room was tidy and kept; Hope's crib was still tucked away in the nursery. There was no one else around besides himself… until he found her.

Klaus saw her sitting in the library of his home, her head in a book. She did not see him at first. Klaus watched her from afar for a moment before saying anything, as he was absolutely speechless. He took in her golden blonde hair that pooled around her shoulders in delicate curls, her light green eyes that showed hints of yellow around the iris in the sunlight. He watched as he head was down slightly to the left, an effect of being lost in a book. He took in everything about her that he felt he did not notice before. He soaked up every second of her natural beauty.

"Camille," he spoke so low he worried that she would not hear him. Camille looked up and saw Klaus for the first time since her passing.

"Klaus," she finally said after a few moments of silence passed. They stared at each other as Cami got up and put her novel down. Cami grew a little nervous, how could he be here?

"I… I, uh…" He could not think of anything to say, he was cut off by the impact of Camille running into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the scent of her, not caring if this was real or not, as long as her could hold her again. Camille held on as tightly as she could, hands gliding through his hair and landing at the base of his neck before releasing him from the embrace. She put her hands on the sides of his face. She looked at him, as she has many times before. Klaus met his lips with hers.

It was a light kiss at first, but then it grew deeper and more passionate. His hands were in her hair and her arms slid gently around his neck. The kiss was a hunger that had yet to be satisfied. Their last kiss was tender and sweet, quite the opposite of their second. It left them both with smiles on their faces.

After the kiss ended, Camille asked, breathlessly, "What are you doing here?"

He looked at her for a moment before responding, "I could ask you the same thing."

"Are you… dead?" She dreaded and prayed for both answers at the same time.

Klaus did not answer but sat down with Cami and told her in on everything from the moment she passed. He began with Davina's tragic passing, and how the effort to save her was thrown away by Freya and Elijah in order to destroy Lucien. He had to relive the memory of Marcel's heart in Elijah's hand and the guilt that struck them both. Klaus spoke of Marcel becoming the same beast that ended Camille's life and how that bite struck down Kol and Elijah. His sisters' lives, one poisoned and the other hexed, where also hanging in the balance.

"My suffering," Klaus struggled with his words, "is keeping my siblings alive as Hayley searches for a way to cure us all." Klaus thought of Hayley and Hope, of where they might be. He wished he was there by their sides, but his battle was one he had to fight alone.

Camille studied the way Klaus spoke; feeling his emotions as if they were her own. She took Klaus' hands after he finished, trying to think of a way to comfort his troubled mind.

"Klaus," she began, "I don't know what to say. The only thing that I can think of is-"

"Our time is going to be short," Klaus interrupted, "I will stay here until Freya or Marcel will wake me up from whatever state I am in. I do not know how long that will be. All I know is that whatever time we have, we need to take advantage of it." Tears began to form up in his eyes against his will; he glanced away from her to gather his bearings.

"This is my last chance to make things right with you," he confessed. He looked into her endless green eyes, chasing after her running thoughts.

"Then we have to make every moment count," she replied, offering a kind smile.

It has been who knows how many days; time was lost on them. Klaus figured was going to stay in this "dream" until he was awoken by someone in the real world. Every morning, Klaus prayed for one more day when he awoke and saw Camille lying next to him.

Each day consisted of a similar routine. Klaus and Camille would wake up together and take a walk around the empty streets of New Orleans. Life felt easier without the burden of duties and demons. Occasionally, Camille would watch Klaus paint or Klaus would try and teach Camille the piano. Then, they would return to the compound and have their usual one-on-one time. Klaus sat in his usual place on the couch, Camille sat in her chair. They would talk for hours, about anything and everything.

First, Klaus went more into detail about what happened after Camille passed. Then, he got to talking about everything he forgot to tell her after he left him. Some days, Camille would talk more than he did.

"What are you going to do once you get out of here?" Camille pressed again. Klaus looked everywhere but at her when he was trying to think of an answer. He dreaded when the reality of their situation crept back into his thoughts. He finally was used to having her again. He finally had her all to himself without danger hanging over their heads. He never wanted to speak of it out loud, because that would make losing her all over again real.

"See Hope," he said finally. "I want to see Hope and try to procure some sort of relationship with her."

Camille thought of Hope. The idea of time was lost on her, but she knew that Hope had to be older now. She probably has Hayley's strength and long locks with Klaus' quick wit and charm. Cami would never get to see her. The thought almost brought her to tears.

"You are her father, Klaus," Camille began, "She misses you as much as you miss her."

He let the thought of his daughter sink in. Camille was one of the only few, if not the only one, who understood just how difficult it was for Klaus to be a good father. She knew of the horrors Mikael created for Klaus and how Klaus wanted to be everything his father was not. Camille believed Klaus could be an amazing father; all he had to do was trust himself. Klaus was beginning to believe Camille.

"And what about Marcel?" she asked.

Klaus' face grew blank. That was it. Cami thought she finally got down to the root of Klaus' frustration and confusion. Hope was one subject, but Marcel is where things got complicated. Marcel was Klaus' son, one who betrayed him. She believed that once he worked through this, he will be ready to return home. Little did she know that she was the reason Klaus could not return home.

"I told Marcel what he meant to me before he decided to go against us," Klaus spitted, almost angrily, " _his_ family."

"Klaus," she began, "I know Marcel does mean a lot to you. And I know you explained to him the place he holds in your life. But, that might have sounded more like a plea to him rather than an admiration. When you wake up, I think you should tell Marcel again how you feel. But this time, don't do it all at once. Take it one day at a time, no matter how difficult it may be."

Klaus looked at her when she finished, "It will not matter either way, if I do tell him again or not, he will still despise me."

"Why?" she simply asked.

"Because," he began, "of what I allowed to happen to Davina. I am responsible for her death."

Camille watched the way Klaus fidgeted when he muttered those words. He stood up abruptly and walked onto the porch, overlooking the empty street. It was not so much Marcel as an enemy he was worried about facing, but Marcel who was once his son.

Camille got up from her burgundy velvet plush chair and walked over next to Klaus.

"Klaus," she said, "look at me." She brought her hands to the sides of his face until he was looking at her. "Davina's death was not your fault. You wanted to find another way and there wasn't one. Freya and Elijah made a choice to keep their family safe. Davina believed in saving those she loved, and she died doing just that."

"That is precisely why Marcel is angry with all of us, as he demonstrated with his actions." Klaus had to contain himself and his temper.

"Listen to me," she pressed, "Davina's death was not your fault. Marcel is angry because of her death and how she became victim to it, and he will be for a long time. She fell to the hands of your family in the end but there were other events that led up to her death. Just as plenty of other things happened before I died. There are millions of people to responsible for our deaths. Marcel does not know how else to deal with it. I know how you both care for each other, I know how much you care about him, and you will each get to forgiveness in time."

Her words brought Klaus back to her last moments, when they were in her mind as she died. Klaus told her she would find peace. He never thought about it before, but was this peace for her? Living alone in his compound waiting for him with no one else around? Was he even supposed to come at all?

It was getting late. After Klaus and Camille's heavy talk earlier, they were both drained of energy. Klaus kept her advice in the back of his mind. It would take time to reconnect with Marcel, but Klaus wanted his friend back desperately and would do anything to show him that. He hoped Marcel would see this and understand one day, whenever it would be.

Klaus walked into his bedroom to find Cami getting ready for bed.

"Hey," she said to him with a smile while getting underneath the cotton sheets.

"May I ask you something, Camille?" Klaus asked as he sat down on the corner of the bed. Camille nodded and waited for his question. "Why are you here?"

"What do you mean, Klaus? I'm here because I'm dead."

"No. Why are you here," he used his hand to show the whole room, "in this dreamlike state of my subconscious instead of living in peace?"

"I'm not too sure, actually," she got up a little from the bed to face him directly. "After I died, it felt like I found peace. It was warm and light, I don't really remember much. But one day the light vanished and I ended up here. I was confused at first and tried to find out why I was here and how I could leave but then… you showed up."

Klaus simply nodded and gave a small smile. He left the conversation alone, maybe he was hallucinating her to keep him sane will trapped by bricks. Or maybe the part of Cami that fought to live in her dying moments returned and was trapped here, waiting to be rescued or resurrected. He knew that hallucination or not, he had to embrace every moment near the women he loved.

Camille reached over to grab his hand and squeezed it gently. Klaus held it tight and gave it a light kiss.

Klaus tossed and turned almost all night. Something felt off to him and he could not shake the strange feeling. He turned over to see if Camille felt the same way he did. She was sound asleep. Klaus noticed the way her face looked tranquil, a touch of a smile on her lips from a good dream. He managed to slow his breaths to match hers in an attempt to calm down. Two separate souls in sync, it reminded him of how they were in the past.

Klaus reached over to tuck a loose strand of Camille's blonde hair behind her ear. She felt his light touch and stirred a little before waking up.

All Cami had to do was look at Klaus' face to know that something was wrong. Before she could ask, she had a strange feeling develop in the pit of her stomach. Her mind was flooded with nothing but a hey blanket of sadness, anger, frustration, and a little heartbreak. The same feeling she had when she realized she was bitten by Lucien.

The silence between them had more words and feelings than either could have imagined to say or feel in their whole lifetimes.

"Camille-"Klaus began.

"I know," she interrupted. She did not want to hear him say that he had to leave soon. He was glad because he did not want to say it.

So he said something else instead.

"I love you," Klaus spoke as clear as day.

Camille's breath caught in her throat for a moment. He has said those words to her once before, but it was still rare and beautiful to hear Klaus say it to her again. She knew how carefully he chose to let people in and know how he felt within the deepest parts of his soul.

"I love you, too," Camille replied.

Klaus' response was his crooked smile that Camille loved so much. She was reminded of how much she would miss him.

"I know why I'm here," her words were enough to cut through the silence and freeze Klaus' expression. "I was meant to see you again. Our time was cut too short. This was the happy ending we didn't get before." Cami's words came out fast; her thoughts tumbled into the space between them.

Klaus picked himself up a little bit to gaze into Camille's eager eyes.

"I told you," he began, "I would have found you and I did, even after your death."

"But, I'm not ready yet," she whispered, "just like I wasn't then." Cami's tears fell as fast as her words did before. Soon enough, she was pressed into Klaus' chest and crying. Klaus could not help but to form a few tears himself.

He remembered the first time he truly laid eyes on her. It seemed like centuries ago, when Camille walked in dressed as an angel to Marcel's party. He had met her earlier, but he only thought of her as the brave bartender that he would never see again.

Maybe it was a sign to see her again, the devil in disguise falling in love with a beautiful angel. Of all the years Klaus has lived, he would never again find something as exceptional as the bond he shares with Camille. He now knows life with and without her, and he prefers the former.

Klaus stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. "Thank you," he whispered, "for everything."

Klaus made sure to recognize the way her hand fit in his, her kind advice, and the stunning smile she saved only for him.

Camille hoped that whatever came next for her, she would remember everything about him.

They slowly began to fall asleep, hand-in-hand.

Jerked awaked, Klaus woke up surrounded by his family. He was back in the real world. Klaus still felt the warmth of Camille's hand in his.

Klaus did not know what was going to happen to him or his family now. But, he knew one thing; Klaus was going to find a way to bring Camille back.


End file.
